In 1986 John Frappier, the founder of Athletic Republic, was invited to join the U.S. Gymnastics Team delegation in the U.S.S.R. for the Summer Goodwill Games. John quickly realized that America’s athletic training lagged behind that of the Soviets and began translating his experiences into better training plans for athlete development in the United States. Many of the training concepts John learned from the Soviets focused on over-speed training, plyometric training and athlete testing. On John’s return flight home, he devised new ways to train and new machines to test an athlete’s limits. Thus, the thinking behind Athletic Republic was born in Russia.

Twenty-three years later, Athletic Republic was invited back to Russia to provide our Athletic Republic Hockey Performance System and expertise to the city of Yekaterinburg and their city’s professional, junior and Olympic academy hockey players. The city of Yekaterinburg is considered a hotbed for young aspiring hockey talent. The city boosts two Olympic Development academies ranging for athletes 7-16 years of age – the Automobilist Authority and Automobilist Unost. In addition the town is home to one of the region’s elite junior programs as well as a professional team in the 2nd Division Russian Liga, the Yekaterinburg Automobilist. Over the years, Yekaterinburg has produced such NHL superstars such as: Alexei Yashin (Ottawa Senators, NY Islanders), Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit Redwings), Nikolai Khabibulin (Chicago Blackhawks) and hundreds of others to star in the Russian KHL and 2nd Divisions.

Russian entrepreneur Igor Balandin first approached Athletic Republic in the fall of 2008, after returning home with his son Ivan, an aspiring hockey standout. Ivan had spent weeks training in one of the Athletic Republic’s many Chicago-land facilities with trainer Tyler Bosch, and had seen incredible improvement in his skating. So much so, the head coach of the academy team took special notice that Ivan was clearly a stride ahead of his opponents and decided to examine the possibility of opening an Athletic Republic facility in Yekaterinburg further. After researching Athletic Republic, and traveling to the U.S. to visit our performance sports centers in Libertyville, Illinois, Albany, New York, Stamford, Connecticut, and Chelsea Piers, in Manhattan, Igor was hooked on the concept of developing his very own center in Russia.

So, 23 years later the goodwill shown John Frappier on his trip to Russia comes full circle. State-of-the-art, patented equipment like Athletic Republic’s Hockey Treadmill, and scientifically tested and proven training methods offer hockey players in Yekaterinburg the best of both worlds.

“It is with great pleasure to bring an Athletic Republic facility to Yekaterinburg, Russia. The results that I have seen firsthand with my own son, and the fact that Athletic Republic has trained so many NHL stars is incredible – it’s an opportunity that I am excited to give back to the hockey community and help to provide a safe and effective way for hockey players to gain speed, power and efficiency.” –Owner Igor Balandin